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Geoffrey Kabaservice in his history of the decline of moderate Republicanism (*Rule and Ruin*) mentions one almost-forgotten event that may have played a significant role in that decline--the end of the *New York Herald Tribune*, the traditional voice of East Coast Establishment Republicanism, in 1966. (Technically, it was merged with two other declining papers to form the *World Journal Tribune*--popularly known as "the Widget"--but that only lasted eight months.) This demise was not inevitable. True, the *Tribune* was losing money, due in large part to labor costs. But so what? Plenty of newspapers that lose money have survived because their owners want the prestige of having them as their mouthpieces. (The *New York Post* under Rupert Murdoch has never turned a profit AFAIK. "Still, the Post gives Rupert Murdoch what he wants: influence." http://adage.com/article/media/a-newspapers-turning-a-profit/238784/) John Hay ("Jock") Whitney https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hay_Whitney could easily have afforded to keep the *Tribune* alive. As Kabaservice notes, "many conservative businessmen who were nowhere near as rich as Whitney would endure far greater losses to support conservative papers and magazines." (p. 168) He adds, "Nothing could replace the *Tribune*'s importance as a publicist for moderate Republican politicians, a mouthpiece for moderate values, and an outlet for some of the faction's best writers and intellectuals." https://books.google.com/books?id=GJ9baqZLVIYC&pg=PT195